Optimization in Telecommunication Networks

Network design and network synthesis have been the classical optimization problems intelecommunication for a long time. In the recent past, there have been many technologicaldevelopments such as digitization of information, optical networks, internet, and wirelessnetworks. These developments have led to a series of new optimization problems. Thismanuscript gives an overview of the developments in solving both classical and moderntelecom optimization problems.We start with a short historical overview of the technological developments. Then,the classical (still actual) network design and synthesis problems are described with anemphasis on the latest developments on modelling and solving them. Classical results suchas Menger’s disjoint paths theorem, and Ford-Fulkerson’s max-flow-min-cut theorem, butalso Gomory-Hu trees and the Okamura-Seymour cut-condition, will be related to themodels described. Finally, we describe recent optimization problems such as routing andwavelength assignment, and grooming in optical networks.operations research and management science;

Topological Design of Multiple Virtual Private Networks UTILIZING SINK-TREE PATHS

With the deployment of MultiProtocol Label Switching (MPLS) over a core backbone networks, it is possible for a service provider to built Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) supporting various classes of services with QoS guarantees. Efficiently mapping the logical layout of multiple VPNs over a service provider network is a challenging traffic engineering problem. The use of sink-tree (multipoint-to-point) routing paths in a MPLS network makes the VPN design problem different from traditional design approaches where a full-mesh of point-to-point paths is often the choice. The clear benefits of using sink-tree paths are the reduction in the number of label switch paths and bandwidth savings due to larger granularities of bandwidth aggregation within the network. In this thesis, the design of multiple VPNs over a MPLS-like infrastructure network, using sink-tree routing, is formulated as a mixed integer programming problem to simultaneously find a set of VPN logical topologies and their dimensions to carry multi-service, multi-hour traffic from various customers. Such a problem formulation yields a NP-hard complexity. A heuristic path selection algorithm is proposed here to scale the VPN design problem by choosing a small-but-good candidate set of feasible sink-tree paths over which the optimal routes and capacity assignments are determined. The proposed heuristic has clearly shown to speed up the optimization process and the solution can be obtained within a reasonable time for a realistic-size network. Nevertheless, when a large number of VPNs are being layout simultaneously, a standard optimization approach has a limited scalability. Here, the heuristics termed the Minimum-Capacity Sink-Tree Assignment (MCSTA) algorithm proposed to approximate the optimal bandwidth and sink-tree route assignment for multiple VPNs within a polynomial computational time. Numerical results demonstrate the MCSTA algorithm yields a good solution within a small error and sometimes yields the exact solution. Lastly, the proposed VPN design models and solution algorithms are extended for multipoint traffic demand including multipoint-to-point and broadcasting connections

Supporting differentiated classes of resilience in multilayer networks

Services provided over telecommunications networks typically have different resilience requirements and networks need to be able to support different levels of resilience in an efficient manner. This dissertation investigates the problem of supporting differentiated classes of resilience in multilayer networks, including the most stringent resilience class required by critical services. We incorporate an innovative technique of embedding a subnetwork, termed the spine, with comparatively higher availability values at the physical layer. The spine lays a foundation for differentiation between multiple classes of flows that can be leveraged to achieve both high resilience and differentiation. The aim of this research is mainly to explore, design, and evaluate the proposed spine concept model in multilayer networks. The dissertation has four major parts. First, we explore the spine concept through numerical analysis of simple topologies illustrating the potential benefits and the cost considerations of the spine. We develop heuristics algorithms to find suitable spines for a network based on the structural properties of the network topology. Second, an optimization problem is formulated to determine the spine. The problem encompasses estimates of link availability improvements, associated costs, and a total budget. Third, we propose a crosslayer mapping and spine-aware routing design problem with protection given mainly at the lower layer. The problem is designed to transfer lower layer differentiation capability to the upper layer network and flows. We provide two joint routing-mapping optimization formulations and evaluate their performance in a multilayer scenario. Fourth, the joint routing-mapping problem is redesigned with protection given in the upper network layer instead. This will create two isolated logical networks; one mapped to the spine and the other is mapped freely on the network. Flows are assigned a path or path-pair based on their class of resilience. This approach can provide more routing options yielding different availability levels. The joint routing-mapping design problems are formulated as Integer Linear Programming (ILP) models. The goal is to achieve a wider range of availability values across layers and high availability levels for mission-critical services without the need to use higher order protection configurations. The proposed models are evaluated with extensive numerical results using real network topologies

Survivable network design with stepwise incremental cost function

Modern society has become more and more dependent on information services, transferred in both public and private network, than ever before. The use of integration of computers with telecommunications has created a so-called “Information Age”. The advent of high capacity digital telecommunication facilities has made it possible for the huge amount of traffic to be carried in an economical and efficient method, in recent years. These facilities, which are used to carry much higher capacities than the traditional ones, also result in the network’s vulnerability to the failure of network facilities, i.e. a single link failure. This thesis is concerned with the technology by which the spare capacity on the link of mesh networks is placed in order to protect the active traffic from network failure with a minimal cost. Although there have been many works to address the issue all of these works have been developed based on the assumption that the link cost with its capacity is linear. In fact, the linear cost functions does not reflect the reality that optic fiber cables with the specific amount of capacities are only available, in other words, the link cost function is stepwise rather than linear. Therefore, all existing algorithms developed for the linear assumption may not be applicable properly for the stepwise case. A novel heuristic algorithm is proposed to solve the problem in this thesis. The algorithm is composed of two parts as follows. In part one, a maximum flow algorithm is employed to work out the maximal amount of feasible spare paths consisting of spare capacities in the network to re-route the disrupted traffic at the event of network failure. In part two, a newly proposed algorithm is used to find an alternative path on which to place the non-rerouted traffic on the failed link with the minimum network cost increment. The superiority of the algorithm is presented over other algorithms published in this area

Survivability issues in WDM optical networks

WDM optical networks make it possible for the bandwidth of transport networks to reach a level on which any failures would cause tremendous data loss and affect a lot of users. Thus, survivability issues of WDM optical networks have attracted a lot of research work. Within the scope of this dissertation, two categories of problems are studied, one is survivable mapping from IP topology to WDM topology, the other is p-cycle protection schemes in WDM networks.;Survivable mapping problem can be described as routing IP links on the WDM topology such that the IP topology stays connected under any single link failure in the WDM topology. This problem has been proved to be NP-complete [1]. At first, this dissertation provides a heuristic algorithm to compute approximated solutions for input IP/WDM topologies as an approach to ease the hardness of it. Then, it examines the problem with a different view, to augment the IP topology so that a survivable mapping can be easily computed. This new perspective leads to an extended survivable mapping problem that is originally proposed and analyzed in this dissertation. In addition, this dissertation also presents some interesting open problems for the survivable mapping problem as future work.;Various protection schemes in WDM networks have been explored. This dissertation focuses on methods based on the p-cycle technology. p-Cycle protection inherits the merit of fast restoration from the link-based protection technology while yielding higher efficiency on spare capacity usage [2]. In this dissertation, we first propose an efficient heuristic algorithm that generates a small subset of candidate cycles that guarantee 100% restorability and help to achieve an efficient design. Then, we adapt p-cycle design to accommodate the protection of the failure of a shared risk link group (SRLG). At last, we discuss the problem of establishing survivable connections for dynamic traffic demands using flow p-cycle

Virtual path bandwidth distribution and capacity allocation with bandwidth sharing

Broadband high-speed networks, such as B-ISDN, are expected to play a dominant role in the future of networking due to their capability to service a variety of traffic types with very different bandwidth requirements such as video, voice and data. to increase network efficiency in B-ISDN and other such connection oriented networks, the concept of a virtual path (VP) has been proposed and studied in the literature. A VP is a permanent or semi-permanent reservation of capacity between two nodes. Using VPs can potentially reduce call setup delays, simplify hardware, provide quality of service performance guarantees, and reduce disruption in the event of link or node failure.;In order to use VPs efficiently, two problems must be solved. With the objective of optimizing network performance, (1) the VPs must be placed within the network, and (2) network link capacity must be divided among the VPs. Most previous work aimed at solving these problems has focused on one problem in isolation of the other. at the same time, previous research efforts that have considered the joint solution of these problems have considered only restricted cases. In addition, these efforts have not explicitly considered the benefits of sharing bandwidth among VPs in the network.;We present a heuristic solution method for the joint problem of virtual path distribution and capacity allocation without many of the limitations found in previous studies. Our solution method considers the joint bandwidth allocation and VP placement problem and explicitly considers the benefits of shared bandwidth. We demonstrate that our algorithm out-performs previous algorithms in cases where network resources are limited. Because our algorithm provides shared bandwidth, solutions found by our algorithm will have a lower setup probability than a network that does not use VPs as well as a lower loss probability than provided by VPDBA solutions produced by previous algorithms. In addition, our algorithm provides fairness not found in solutions produced by other algorithms by guaranteeing that some service will be provided to each source-destination pair within the network

Off-line and in-operation optical core networks planning

The ever increasing IP traffic volume has finally brought to light the high inefficiency of current wavelength-routed over rigid-grid optical networks in matching the client layer requirements. Such an issue results in the deployment of large-size, expensive and power-consuming Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) layers to perform the required grooming/aggregation functionality. To deal with this problem, the emerging flexgrid technology, allowing for reduced size frequency grids, is being standardized. Flexgrid optical networks divide the spectrum into frequency slots providing finer granularity than rigid networks based on Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM). To find a feasible allocation, new Routing and Spectrum Allocation (RSA) algorithms for flexgrid optical networks need to be designed and evaluated. Furthermore, due to the flexibility of flexible optical networks, the aggregation functions and statistical multiplexing can be partially located in the optical layer. In addition, given the special characteristics of flexible optical networks, the traditional mechanisms for protection and recovery must be reformulated. Optical transport platforms are designed to facilitate the setting up and tearing down of optical connections (lightpaths). Combining remotely configurable optical cross-connects (OXCs) with a control plane provides the capability of automated lightpath set-up for regular provisioning, and real-time reaction to the failures, being thus able to reduce Operational Expenditures (OPEX). However, to exploit existing capacity, increase dynamicity, and provide automation in future networks, current management architectures, utilizing legacy Network Management Systems (NMS) need to be radically transformed. This thesis is devoted to design optical networks and to devise algorithms to operate them. Network design objective consists of: i. Analyzing the cost implications that a set of frequency slot widths have on the Capital Expenditures (CAPEX) investments required to deploy MPLS-over-flexgrid networks; ii. Studying recovery schemes, where a new recovery scheme specifically designed for flexgrid-based optical networks is proposed. As for network operation, we focus on: i. Studying provisioning, where two provisioning algorithms are proposed: the first one targets at solving the RSA problem in flexgrid networks, whereas the second one studies provisioning considering optical impairments in translucent DWDM networks; ii. Getting back to the recovery problem, we focus on algorithms to cope with restoration in dynamic scenarios. Several algorithms are proposed for both single layer and multilayer networks to be deployed in the centralized Path Computation Element (PCE); iii. One of the main problems in flexgrid networks is spectrum defragmentation. In view of that, we propose an algorithm to reallocate already established optical connections so as to make room for incoming requests. This algorithm is extended with elasticity to deal with time-varying traffic. The above algorithms are firstly implemented and validated by using simulation, and finally experimentally assessed in real test-beds. In view of PCE architectures do not facilitate network reconfiguration, we propose a control and management architecture to allow the network to be dynamically operated; network resources can be made available by reconfiguring and/or re-optimizing the network on demand and in real-time. We call that as in-operation network planning. It shall be mentioned that part of the work reported in this thesis has been done within the framework of several European and National projects, namely STRONGEST (FP7-247674), IDEALIST (FP7-ICT-2011-8), and GEANT (FP7-238875) funded by the European Commission, and ENGINE (TEC2008-02634) and ELASTIC (TEC2011-27310) funded by the Spanish Science Ministry.El volumen creciente del tráfico IP, finalmente, ha puesto de manifiesto la alta ineficiencia de las redes ópticas actuales de grid rígido basadas en WDM en la adecuación a los requisitos de capa de cliente. Dicho problema genera que se deba desplegar una red con capas MPLS de gran tamaño, costosa y de alto consumo energético para poder realizar la funcionalidad de agregación requerida. Para hacer frente a este problema, la tecnología flexgrid emergente, que permite grids con frecuencias de menor tamaño, está siendo estandarizada. Las redes ópticas flexgrid dividen el espectro en slots de frecuencia, lo que proporciona una granularidad más fina en comparación a las redes rígidas basadas en WDM. Para encontrar una asignación factible, nuevos algoritmos de enrutamiento y asignación de espectro (RSA) para redes ópticas flexgrid deben ser diseñados y evaluados. Además, debido a la flexibilidad de las redes ópticas flexibles, las funciones de agregación y de multiplexación estadística pueden ser parcialmente situadas en la capa óptica. Asimismo, dadas las características especiales de las redes ópticas flexibles, los mecanismos tradicionales de protección y recuperación deben reformularse. Las plataformas de transporte ópticas están diseñadas para facilitar la creación y destrucción de conexiones ópticas. La combinación de OXCs configurables remotamente con un plano de control, proporciona la capacidad de crear conexiones automáticamente para el aprovisionamiento habitual, y la reacción en tiempo real a los fallos, para así poder reducir el OPEX. Sin embargo, para aprovechar la capacidad existente, aumentar la dinamicidad y proporcionar automatización a las redes del futuro, las arquitecturas actuales de gestión, que utilizan sistemas legados de NMS, necesitan ser transformadas de manera radical. Esta tesis está dedicada al diseño de redes ópticas y a la creación de algoritmos para operarlas. El objetivo de diseño de red se compone de: 1. El análisis de las implicancias en el costo que tiene un conjunto de slots de frecuencia en el CAPEX necesario para implementar redes MPLS-over-flexgrid; 2. El estudio de esquemas de recuperación, donde se propone un nuevo esquema de recuperación diseñado específicamente para las redes ópticas basadas en flexgrid. En cuanto a la operación de la red: 1. El estudio de aprovisionamiento, donde se proponen dos algoritmos de aprovisionamiento: el primero de ellos tiene como objetivo solucionar el problema de RSA en redes flexgrid, mientras que el segundo estudia aprovisionamiento considerando la degradación óptica en redes WDM translúcidas; 2. Volviendo al problema de la recuperación, nos centramos en algoritmos de restauración para escenarios dinámicos. Se proponen varios algoritmos, tanto para redes mono-capa como multi-capa, que serán desplegados en un PCE centralizado; 3. Uno de los principales problemas en las redes flexgrid es la desfragmentación del espectro. Para ello, se propone un algoritmo para reasignar las conexiones ópticas ya establecidas con el fin de hacer espacio a las entrantes. Este algoritmo se extiende con elasticidad para ser utilizado en escenarios con tráfico variable en el tiempo. Los algoritmos anteriores son primero implementados y validados utilizando simulación, y finalmente son evaluados experimentalmente en testbeds reales. En vista de que las arquitecturas de PCE no facilitan la reconfiguración de la red, proponemos una arquitectura de control y gestión para permitir que la red pueda ser operada de forma dinámica; hacer que los recursos de la red estén disponibles mediante reconfiguración y/o re-optimización de la red bajo demanda y en tiempo real. A eso lo llamamos planificación en operación de la red. El trabajo presentado en esta tesis se ha realizado en el marco de proyectos europeos y nacionales: STRONGEST (FP7-247674), IDEALIST (FP7-2011-8), y GEANT (FP7-238875) financiados por la CE, y ENGINE (TEC2008-02634) y ELASTIC (TEC2011-27310) financiados por el MINEC

Investigation of the tolerance of wavelength-routed optical networks to traffic load variations.

This thesis focuses on the performance of circuit-switched wavelength-routed optical network with unpredictable traffic pattern variations. This characteristic of optical networks is termed traffic forecast tolerance. First, the increasing volume and heterogeneous nature of data and voice traffic is discussed. The challenges in designing robust optical networks to handle unpredictable traffic statistics are described. Other work relating to the same research issues are discussed. A general methodology to quantify the traffic forecast tolerance of optical networks is presented. A traffic model is proposed to simulate dynamic, non-uniform loads, and used to test wavelength-routed optical networks considering numerous network topologies. The number of wavelengths required and the effect of the routing and wavelength allocation algorithm are investigated. A new method of quantifying the network tolerance is proposed, based on the calculation of the increase in the standard deviation of the blocking probabilities with increasing traffic load non-uniformity. The performance of different networks are calculated and compared. The relationship between physical features of the network topology and traffic forecast tolerance is investigated. A large number of randomly connected networks with different sizes were assessed. It is shown that the average lightpath length and the number of wavelengths required for full interconnection of the nodes in static operation both exhibit a strong correlation with the network tolerance, regardless of the degree of load non-uniformity. Finally, the impact of wavelength conversion on network tolerance is investigated. Wavelength conversion significantly increases the robustness of optical networks to unpredictable traffic variations. In particular, two sparse wavelength conversion schemes are compared and discussed: distributed wavelength conversion and localized wavelength conversion. It is found that the distributed wavelength conversion scheme outperforms localized wavelength conversion scheme, both with uniform loading and in terms of the network tolerance. The results described in this thesis can be used for the analysis and design of reliable WDM optical networks that are robust to future traffic demand variations